Wednesday, February 16, 2011

We've spent the better part of the past year helping cure cancer via fundraising and awareness projects with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, but Comics Cure's mission is to create awareness about and rally the comic book community to fight back against the entire spectrum of diseases, disabilities, and downers that might affect our fellow geeks and nerds.

And speaking of spectrums, Comics Cure hopes to help one nerd, in particular, who you may have seen around the Web rocking some awesome Green Lantern-inspired cos wear. Another spectrum-related note about her would be that she has like 50 different jobs in the geek community--though she seems to enjoy them all too much for it to be considered "work." Our favorite rising star blogger, podcaster, radio DJ, and costumed convention fixture, "the Nerdy Bird" Jill Pantozzi-is a lifelong champion in the battle to find a cure for muscular dystrophy. Jill uses her various geek media outlets and resources to raise awareness about the condition, participates in various annual events for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and has her own team, The Nerdy Birds, in the 2011 MDA Muscle Walk. And she's also a client. Jill received a diagnosos of spinal muscular atrophy (a form of muscular dystrophy) when she was just a two years old, and she has been involved with the MDA, both receiving assistance and giving back, ever since.

So let's help the Nerdy Bird give back by supporting her team in the MDA Muscle Walk.The event takes place on March 12 at the Prudential Center in New Jersey, but you can donate and spread the word today.

Monday, February 14, 2011

It is time to hit pause on the charity talk and put on my geek blogger hat. The wife and I saw a preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theater in Times Square, NYC.

Every Wednesday is Comic Day, so we made Wednesday night our comic-theater night. Our show happened to be a couple of days after the dramaturg terminators from multiple papers and publications posted some brutal reviews about the show. And those came after the weeks of mockery and mayhem from so many people who had seen it, mostly related to the string of injuries and accidents that had plagued the show for months.

Blame lowered expectations, or maybe it was my love for the source material that gave me a different perspective than theater critics focused on Julie Taymor's career trajectory, but I thought the show was good. I liked it and I'm glad I got to see it. And yes, if the price was right, I'd see it again. I'll pick it apart in a little more detail below, but just understand going into this review that I did have a good time.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark gives us glimpses of Peter Parker's wall-crawling origin and his early days of crime fighting and juggling a relationship with high school crush Mary Jane, all within the frameworkweb of another character's origin and evolution. A mythological being, Arachne, who challenged a god, showed her up, and was punished for it, is woven into the show--or maybe she is the one doing the weaving--as a means to exploring the standard Spidey story points without falling to the expected tropes and cliches to set them all up. So rather than recreate the plot to Sam Raimi's film franchise or a stack of selected back issues on the great white way, Julie Taymor and company have given us a new perspective, in many ways an outsiders perspective, on the Spider-man mythos.

This was done to mixed effect, with some aspects of the character elevated or enhanced by the new lens, but other crucial Spideylore reduced to soundbytes and afterthoughts. For instance, J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle only serve the storytelling as a vehicle for telling instead of showing, as several action sequences take place entirely offstage while DB reporters describe the events. Another victim of the new perspective, Peter's relationship with Aunt May and Uncle Ben comes across as unexpectedly tense and confrontational in the short time it is given, and Uncle Ben's iconic lesson to Peter, "With great power must also come great responsibility," is all but cut from the adaptation when instead it should have served (as usual, an important Spidey cliche) as the guiding mantra for his heroism.

Getting back to Arachne--because the play always gets back to Arachne, whether you like it or not--she had great power--her uncanny talent for weaving--though great responsibility never really comes into it. Unless maybe flaunting her skill to the goddess Athena, who liked to think she was a pretty good weaver herself, was an irresponsibly reckless thing for Arachne to do. But she does, and as punishment for her insolence, she is turned into a spider by the goddess. The world's first spider, in fact. From there, Arachne becomes the weaver of a mystical, magical web in the astral plane, which allows her to look into our world from time to time, influence events, and even step into it (assuming she has the appropriate footwear). This also puts her in a position to speak to Peter Parker after he gets his spider powers. The show suggests, rather than allowing us to believe a braniac kid can plausably get super powers and have the resources to invent and maintain his own web shooters and know how to sew well enough to make his own costume, that Arachne was, in fact, the one who granted him the means (or at least the materials) to spin out his super suit.

But the show doesn't dwell on this point too long, as it is one of many plot threads that, once you start tugging, will unravel the whole story. The biggest weakness of the show is this weak connection that ties the various moving parts together with Spider-man. This is why the JJJameson and Uncle Ben stuff unravels. This is also why I worry that anyone going into the show with a more limited knowledge of Spideylore may just feel lost. I happen to be enough of a dark that I can subconciously fill in the gaps of logic and storytelling that probably exist for anyone trying to compare the show to Wicked or Jersey Boys. I was simply comparing it to 30+ years of Spider-man.

And what should have been the oddest fit for Spidey, this "brand new" character Arachne, actually worked better than I expected. Along that fragile story web I mentioned earlier, a strong case is made to connect Arachne to Peter/Spidey in a way that could translate to the comic book origin and rationale of a newly minted super villain. I could see J. Michael Straczynski adapting Turn Off the Dark with the same sensibilities that he applied to making comic-book Spidey a totemic icon, mating Gwen Stacy with Norman Osborn to make evil super clone babies, and nullifying Peter and MJ's comic marriage via a deal with the devil. Actually, Arachne and the essence of this play's plot would probably be more welcome in the current comic Spideyverse than any of those JMS premises were.

But this is all about the story. Visually, I loved the set pieces and stage craft -- especially the subtles tricks of design and engineering that turned a house into a classroom and allowed two characters wallking in place centerstage to travel several blocks through their Queens neighborhood. I liked how Norman Osborn's Willy Wonka-meets-Sgt. Pepper laboratory was juxtaposed with a sunset duet between Peter and MJ within the same scene. The theater version of spider sense in action was fun to watch and established Peter's new powers quickly and cleverly. Even the big rubber-suited villains worked--those goofy costumes not so goofy in the context of the madcap comic book landscape established for the show as a whole. They were in the right spirit of fun and energy that the show was shooting for.

The thing I didn't like at all and think hurt the show immensely was the wire work. There's nothing natural or graceful in the take-offs and landing when Spider-man swings from his webs. And there's no magic or illusion to those webs or any other wire work within the theater, except when the characters are set back deep within the frame of the stage and against a dark backdrop. Otherwise, it just looks like people swinging around the theater in front of the show. The wires are thick and obvious. There's no clever weblike camouflage or lighting tricks employed to help maintain the illusion of Spider-man in action, of the Green Goblin flying at you, or of Arachne weaving her web of mystery. Its just big, fat cables attached to actors in costumes. The most important post-previews adjustment they could make to this show would be to fix these clunky, obvious, awkward wires--the centerpiece of all of the show's marketing and controversy.

The music is inoffensive, obviously U2-spawned, but mostly forgetable. Nothing stuck with me after the show and I can't recall any of it besides the whiney guitar riff that plays with the TV commercials. But if I heard any of the tunes a second time, I could actually find qualities to judge them on more than recall.

I knew curing cancer would be a pain in the ass, but this is ridiculous!

Team Comics Cure was in full effect this past Sunday at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Cycle for Survival. While the look on my face in the photo above suggests otherwise, it was a pleasure to take part in the day.

The 2011 event has pulled in 4.2 million dollars for rare cancer research, with Comics Cure securing more than 3.3 (thousand) of that. But the fundraising doesn't end there! We've still got a corporate match pending for about a third of our monies raises, thanks to my wife's diligence raising donations at her job, and all Cycle for Survival team pages will remain open to donations through the end of March. If you were worried you missed the boat or feel guilty about leaving little old Matty B to represent the entire comic book community at the event, please visit or share our team page and make a donation.

Big thanks to everyone who took part in the event, especially those of you who gave your time and/or money to support Team Comics Cure.

Hey-Zeus is the son of a god, with the power to heal anyone with only a touch from his hand! It's even said that he can raise the dead. If destroyed in battle, Hey-Zeus will come back in a blinding light, healthier then ever. Although the one thing he won't do is fight. Hey-Zeus will not raise a hand in violence. How great is that? A healing hero who hates hitting! I'm thinking Hey-Zeus should be the unofficial superhero mascot for Comics Cure!

If Stephan win the contest, Talenthouse will facilitate introductions with contacts in the film, television, and social gaming industries. The selected design will be made into either an action ﬁgure or sculpture of which The Stan Lee Foundation will make a limited number. He will also be presented with an award by Stan Lee at Comic Con San Diego 2011 and spend a day with Todd McFarlane at his art studio production facility, in Tempe, AZ.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

@TheNerdyBird tweets and people listen. She gave a very charitable (nyuk) nod to Comics Cure during a Twitter exchange (Twialogue?) with the 20,000-followers-and-climbing comic-reviewing machine that is @TheBlairButler. If any of those 20k+ Twits have clicked through to the site, welcome!

Blair Butler, an Attack of the Show writer and correspondent, was talking comic donations -- specifically, the option of donating old books to hospitals, where a captive audience in need of some escapism will surely be grateful.

This sort of thinking is the essence of the Comics Cure Call to Action. We geeks have way too much stuff...so find a geek in need or make a geek out of someone by providing the perfect mental getaway during a bad time. Go do some good.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Team Comics Cure just keeps rolling, rolling, rolling along with the fundraising for this month's MSKCC Cycle for Survival. We hit our modest team goal of $1000 in early January, and now we're hugging $2500 with just two weeks remaining.

We'll continue accepting donations on the team page as long we can, up to and possibly through event day, Sunday, February 13. We're also still looking for volunteers to ride in the staionary-spin-bike relay.

Take a ride, cheer us on, or just help us break some more fundraising milestones!

CALL TO ACTION

Being a geek is EXPENSIVE! But fanboys and fangirls spend so much of their time and money on kitsch and fluff, stuff and nonsense, and pricey toys that adding a few extra bucks to the weekly pull-list budget or rounding off the cost of that life-size stuffed Jawa to the nearest dollar wouldn't make a single one of them blink. What if that extra dollar a week went toward the fight to cure autism? What if it went toward the expansion of the pediatric center of a cancer hospital? What if the extra dollar thrown into the pot by a thousand geeks every week for a month went to help just one sick child with limited health insurance get the treatment she needs?

So let's do it! Don't give that money to us. Give it to them. Or find some other way to channel your creativity to help them. Just do something. There will be plenty of time for your own escapism after you spend a few moments (and hopefully a few pennies) improving someone else's reality. When you're done reading about do-gooders for $3.99 a pop, go out a do some good of your own.

FOUNDER

Matt Bergin, the co-creator of Division 18: The Union of Novelty Costumed Performers and moderator of the Comic Blog Elite, started this blog as a distraction after a diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Now, one thyroid lighter and able to debunk any myths about radiation giving you special powers, Matt is taking a cue from his super heroes and trying to do some good. There's no cure for comics, but through our efforts, comics can cure!